Automatic folding hanger.



F. W. WESNER.

AUTOMATIC FOLDING HANGER. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29. 1915.

1,184,288. I Patented May23, 1916.

- Ewen-far w Frank 20. Mesa? ea AUTOMATIC FOLDING HANGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 23, 1916.

Application filed March 29, 1915. Serial No. 17,606.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK WV. WVEsNnn, of Brookline, in the county ofNorfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Automatic Folding Hangers, of which the fol lowing is aspecification.

This invention relates to garment hangers, and more particularly todevices of this character which are employed to display shirt waists andgowns.

In general, my present invention is of the same character as thatdescribed and. claimed in Letters Patent No. 1,066,170, granted to meJuly 1, 1913, in which it is explained that it is highly desirable toprovide a hanger which can be inserted in or withdrawn from a garmentwithout necessitating manipulation of the closures of the garment whenthe neck or waist opening of the garment is narrower than the usualwidth or length of a garment hanger. The structure illustrated in saidpatent is such that the arms can only automatically assume insertingposition by so holding the device that the arms will move toward eachother by gravity when the spring is collapsed by hand. Hence, it isnecessary to hold the device substantially vertically in order that thearms may drop when unlocked or released.

The object of my present invention is to provide an improved structurewhich, when the spring is manually collapsed, the arms may be positivelyclosed or folded to position to insert them in a garment, regardless ofthe position in which the device is held during manipulation. Therefore,the arms can be inserted through the neck opening of the waist or thewaist opening of a skirt, when the garment is lying flat upon a table oreven if the garment is inverted, the arms being positively andautomatically closed for insertion or for release.

With these and other objects in view my invention consists in theimproved folding garment hanger, substantially as hereinafter describedand claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of myimproved hanger in one of itsembodiments, the arms being spread to theirsupporting position; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the arms in theirclosed position either for inserting into a garment, or when folded forcarrying in a traveling bag. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of thesupporting and operating member, omitber comprises a piece of wire bentinterme-.

diate its ends, as shown by comparing Figs. 1 and 4t, to form a hook 12,the wire being twisted at 13, and a portion being coiled to form aspring 14. The end portions of the wire are coiled to provide two pivoteyes 15, 16, and loops 17, 18, as best shown in Fig. 3.

Each arm comprises a piece of wire preferably bent to form a supportingloop 19, one end of the wire being twisted around, as at 20, the otherend being bent at substantially a right angle to provide a pivot 21 (seeFig. When the three parts are as- I sembled, one arm is passed throughthe loop 17 and its bent end is then fitted into the eye 16 and theextreme end of the portion 21 may be then headed down, a washer beingemployed, of course, if desired. tion of each arm which slides in orrelatively to a loop 17, or 18, when the device is shifted from theposition shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 2, or vice versa,is ogee curved to provide a lower cam surface 22 and an upper camsurface 23.

Assuming that the user wishes to collapse or fold the arms, grasping thesupporting or operating member and exerting pressure of the arms whichhave the loops 17 18, toward each other so that they shift to theposition shown in Fig. 2, will permit the arms to fold or collapse ifheld vertically, or will force them positively to assume folded orcollapsed position, regardless of how the device is held. This isbecause, after the lower ends of the loops 17, 18, pass by the camportions 22 moving toward the pivots 21, the upper ends of said loops17, 18 will contact with the upper cams 23 and so compel. the two armsto fold toward each other. This result is accomplished, as has beenstated, regardless of the position in which the device is held in thehand. When the device is in, or substantially in the collapsed or foldedcondition illustrated in Fig. 2, the looped ends 19 of the arms can bepushed into even a very small opening in a garment,

The por without unbuttoning it or undoing its closures, or without anystrain thereupon. Release of the collapsing pressure upon the loops 17,18, permits the spring 14 to spread those loops, and the lower ends ofsaid loops riding over the cam curves 22, results in spreading the armsto supporting position, inside the garment. If this inserting has beendone while the garment has been lying out smooth upon a table or ironingboard, the assembling can be done with very little handling of thegarment, and it can then be lifted from such table or ironing board andhung up.

It will now be seen that I have provided a device of this characterwhich will enable its supporting arms to be positively closed andinserted while the garment is in any position, and which will enable thearms to be collapsed to release the garment, when it is hung up, withoutremoving the hanger from its place of support. That is, if a garmentthat has been hung up on the hanger is to be removed, a simplecollapsing of the supporting and operating member, so as to cause theloops 17, 18, to approach each other, will cause the garment which hasbeen supported to drop off. In other words, I have provided a hangerhaving arms which are automatically and positively shifted fromsupporting position to inserting position, without being obliged to holdthe device so that the arms will collapse or close by gravity.

As clearly shown in Fig. 1, the device, when in use, has the loops 17,18 spread far enough apart so that the arms are locked in supportingposition. This is because the inner ends of the two arms cross eachother and the pivot of each arm is at a considerable distance from theportion of the arm which is through the operating loop at the other sideof the device.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is:

1.-A garment hanger having a pair of garment supporting arms shiftablefrom supporting position to relatively collapsed position, a spring forshifting the arms to supporting position, and means whereby manualoperation of the spring will positively swing th arms toward each other.

2. A garment hanger having a pair of swinging arms and an intermediatespring member provided with slotted portions embracing inner portions ofsaid arms, said slotted portions having a normal tendency to move apart,the portions of the arms which pass through the slotted portions 01":the intermediate spring member being irregularly formed to present camsurfaces to be acted upon by the ends of the slots, whereby the armswill be positively swung toward each other under the manual operation ofthe spring.

' 3. A garment hanger comprising a centralmember having a pair ofspring-separated loops, and a pair of garment supporting arms, each ofsaid arms having a portion passing through one of said loops andpivotally connected to the central member adjacent the other of saidloops.

4. A garment hanger comprising a pair of supporting arms and a centraloperating member therefor, said arms being pivotally connected to saidcentral member and having cam portions, the central member including aspring having slotted portions embracing and acting on the cam portionsof the arms to positively swing them toward or apart from each other.

5. A garment hanger comprising a central member and a pair of garmentsupporting arms, each of said members being of wire, the central memberhaving a pairof springseparated loops, the arms passing through saidloops and crossing each other and pivotally connected to the centralmember'adjacent the loops thereof.

6. A garment hanger comprising a central member and a pair of garmentsupporting arms, each of said members being of wire, the central memberhaving a pair of springseparated loops, the arms passing through saidloops and crossing each other and piv otally connected to the centralmember adjacent the loops thereof, the said arms being reversely curvedadjacent their pivots to form cam surfaces adapted to be acted upon bythe loops of the central member.

member of wire having a hook and coiled to form a spring, the wirehaving loops at its ends and pivot eyes adjacent said loops, and a pairof garment supporting arms,the inner ends being pivotally-mounted insaid eyes, and having cam-shaped portions shiftable relatively to saidloops, the portions of the arms between the other.

signature.

FRANK w. WESNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. V

.100 7. A garment hanger comprising a central loops crossing each Intestimony whereof I have aflixed my

